FISA

29 January 2008 -- Legislation to expand and renew a wiretapping law that expires Friday stalled on the floor of the U.S. Senate Monday amid partisan wrangling. Lawmakers are expected to seek a temporary extension of the measure later this week.

Senate Republicans who support of the legislation failed to muster the 60 votes needed to end debate and move the bill to a final vote. The vote was 48 to 45.    » read more »

Jan 24, 2008 -- Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Today, Senator John Edwards released the following statement urging Senate Democrats to filibuster the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):

"In Washington today, telecom lobbyists have launched a full-court press to win retroactive immunity for their illegal eavesdropping on American citizens. Granting retroactive immunity will let corporate law-breakers off the hook and hamstring efforts to learn the truth about Bush's illegal spying program.    » read more »

Legislation would require an Inspector General of the Administration’s warrantless wiretapping program

January 24, 2008 -- (As Prepared for Delivery)    » read more »

January 23, 2008 -- Washington, DC – In anticipation of the debate on the FISA bill, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) took to the Senate Floor today to discuss two amendments that she plans on offering.

* The first amendment would ensure that the federal government must follow the requirements of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) when conducting electronic surveillance of American citizens for foreign intelligence purposes.    » read more »

Washington, DC -- January 24, 2008 - U.S. Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today introduced an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act currently pending on the floor. The amendment would substitute the United States in place of any electronic communication service provider who provided communications in connection with an intelligence activity that was (1) authorized by the President between September 11, 2001, and January 17, 2007, and (2) designed to detect or prevent a terrorist attack against the United States.    » read more »

Iowa Campaign Celebrates His Experience In Foreign Policy Debates Over Past Quarter Century

Des Moines, IA – On the sixth day of his 12 Days of Results Tour, Chris Dodd traveled back to Iowa after winning a fight on the Senate floor against a bill providing immunity for the telecom companies that participated with the Bush Administration in violating the civil liberties of millions of Americans. Read more about his victory on this issue at http://chrisdodd.com/filibuster.    » read more »

"I strongly oppose the blanket grant of retroactive immunity in the Intelligence Committee bill to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This Administration violated FISA by conducting warrantless surveillance of Americans for more than five years. They got caught, or they would probably still be doing it. When the public found out about the President’s illegal surveillance of Americans, the Administration and the telephone companies were sued by citizens who believe their privacy and their rights were violated.    » read more »

Washington, D.C. -- December 18, 2007 -- U.S. Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today appeared on CNN’s American Morning where he discussed Senator Reid’s decision to delay consideration of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act until January. He also addressed Attorney General Mukasey’s refusal to accommodate Senator Specter and Senator Leahy’s request for information regarding the destruction of the CIA tapes.

A transcript of the interview is below:    » read more »

In Iowa, Dodd Campaign Celebrates His Work Expanding Educational Opportunities For All

Des Moines, IA – On the fifth day of his 12 Days of Results Tour, Chris Dodd headed back to Washington to fight against a bill providing immunity for the telecom companies that participated with the Bush Administration in violating the civil liberties of millions of Americans. You can read more about his efforts at http://chrisdodd.com/filibuster.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- "The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act – FISA – is intended to protect both our national security and the privacy and civil liberties of Americans. We are considering amendments to that important Act that will provide new flexibility to our Intelligence Community. I think we all support surveillance authority and we have joined together to update FISA dozens of times since its historic passage after the intelligence abuses of earlier decades.    » read more »

(As Prepared for Delivery)

December 17, 2007 -- "Mr. President, I am troubled by the FISA bill that has come to the Senate floor. Since I introduced the original FISA legislation over 30 years ago, I’ve worked to amend the FISA law many times, and I believe that this bill is not faithful to the traditional balance that FISA has struck. This bill gives the Executive Branch vast new authorities to spy on Americans, without adequate guidance or oversight. Americans deserve better.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- Washington, DC – “Today, the U.S. Senate took up the FISA Amendments Act of 2007. The bill under consideration gives telecommunication companies blanket retroactive immunity for their alleged cooperation in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program. I continue to believe that a grant of retroactive immunity is unjustified, and I have co-sponsored Senator Dodd’s measure to remove that provision from the bill.    » read more »

December 17, 2007 -- “Senator Obama unequivocally opposes giving retroactive immunity to telecommunications companies and has cosponsored Senator Dodd's efforts to remove that provision from the FISA bill.

Granting such immunity undermines the constitutional protections Americans trust the Congress to protect. Senator Obama supports a filibuster of this bill, and strongly urges others to do the same. It's not clear whether he can return for the vote, but under the Senate rules, the side trying to end a filibuster must produce 60 votes to cut off debate.    » read more »

Fourteen Senators Urge Majority Leader to Take Up Senate Judiciary Committee Version of FISA Bill

December 12, 2007 -- Washington, DC – As the Senate prepares to consider legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a group of senators is urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to make the FISA bill passed by the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) the base bill to be considered on the Senate floor.    » read more »

November 15, 2007 -- Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor tonight in support of H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act, which updates the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to provide flexible surveillance tools for the intelligence community while protecting the constitutional rights of Americans. The bill passed by a vote of 227 to 189. Below are the Speaker’s remarks:    » read more »